Our Milestone
How it all started
Graduate Wonton -
Did we ever mention, we are the founding organizers of Design Guild of Toronto (DGT)? A creative body made possible through the support of 900+ arts and media professionals to overcome, discuss and meet their lifestyle needs the backing of like-minded others.
Well, one late April evening night of the year 2007 - we tool upon ourselves to put together a causal discussion. Honestly, I don't remember if even we had a topic in mind. The room was filled with artists and designers; creative directors and freelancers and yes even your several graduating students. We took the liberty by one another through the process of self-introduction. Something likes an elevator introduction - but much more creative than that.
So let's take the story through a sense of maze and imagination. At least we hope so. On our far left corner, a recent graduate of Humber College took the stand and mentioned his interests in landing a career. Next up, Nasil Kim - a student of Seneca@York did more than a stand, she announced her interests in landing an internship in graphic design in order to graduate.
My friends, it took less than a few seconds to realize the overwhelming rise from the room's reaction. With the raised hands, came the birth of 2007 Graduate Wonton.
In less than 10 days of conception, planning and coordination - Tm Mahdi, director of Cg6 Inc., with the support of the Design Guild of Toronto and of course, Nasil - 34 recent graduates and 6 agencies attended Hello Wonton on April 27, 2007.
From the hours of 7pm till midnight, portfolios were reviewed, personalities were shared, and opportunities were attained all over a bowl of soup. By night ends, 4 graduates came out with an internship and one was actually offered a job on the spot.
I personally must say, in less than 10 days of preparation, there was an 87% turn out. An event with no intent to make a profit, secured a return of $1.
And an idea to help graduates breaks out of the mainstream from an interview to having a casual portfolio review over dinner made a whole lot of difference.
Graduate Lulu -
After the experience of the successful night of Graduate Wonton, Cg6 Inc. prepared passionately for Graduate Lulu. A sales guy and a PR lady was contracted to secure sponsorships for the event, however, that was a negative experience. We don’t even want to get into details.
Continued with our own effort, Cg6 Inc. managed to put together our first ever Campus Roadtour. We were thrilled how supportive some schools can be, even though they were not able to participate right away. It wasn't easy to secure the time for the visits to the schools, not to mention to have the number of handouts to be prepared for all the attending students.
Thanks to one of our attended agency, Accent Prime, we were able to have all the handouts printed and put together nicely in time. Along with our sponsor, Tru Financial, from March 18, 2008 to April 7, 2008, we went to University of Western Ontario, Mohawk College (x2!!), International Academy of Design & Technology, Fleming College and George Brown College, interacted with close to 500 students face-to-face. Of course, not all students were able to come out to the event, but lots of them were interested in the event and showed appreciation on what Cg6 Inc is doing for them.
As we had mentioned before, University of Western Ontario was the first school we started off our Campus Roadtour. It was such a positive experience and it set a very good start for ourselves. We had engaging talks with the students and the coordinators. We look forward to return this year. :)
There are always frustrations and down time in planning an event, but we are very much rewarded by a number of positive feedbacks from schools like Fanshaw College, Sheridan Institute and OCAD; attended graduates who found the event valuable; and agencies which believe and support in what we do.
This year, for the first time, after 91% super success turnout, we have been invited to host the Graduate Series; Graduate 4.0, at our beloved Capital - Ottawa.
Once again, we would like to thank you:
Brock University for witnessing the value of our initiatives for next year's syllabus; Design Guild of Toronto in making the Internship Forum a true possibility; Durham College for promoting us to their eager students; Fanshawe College in considering us their 2009 internship kickstart; Fleming College for being the first school to truly believing in us and supporting us along the way; George Brown College for truly being the City’s College - many thanks; Georgian College for passing on our word to their students; International Academy of Design & Technology reminding us of our academy days; IT360 Show for having us - without you, we would not have met Line of Sight Design Associates Inc as a participating agency; Mohawk College for truly making this possible TWICE!!; Media Professionals of Toronto for being there when we need you; OCAD for making life never-forgetting; Sheridan College being the one school to do everything and anything to get the word out to their graduates, and actually seeing the difference in the effort; Society of Internet Professionals in recognizing our efforts for all our future endeavors; Trent University for being willing; Wilfrid Laurier University for keeping the talks open; University of Ontario Institute of Technology being the one school to notice us before noticing you, and many thanks to University of Western Ontario to start off the Campus Roadtour 2008.
